3 things to teach your kids so they succeed in life

3 things to teach your kids so they succeed in life The kid competition starts early, with sleep. For the first six months of my sons life, someone would ask me every day, Hows his sleeping? As if sleep practices are a window into a babys genius. (And let me tell you something, if sleep is the SATs for babies, I am living with the village idiot.) Then there are parents who say, My son adores his books! like he is the next Shakespeare. And there are the parents who say, I bought puzzles for her age group but they were too easy for her! Two words: Who cares? I am not hoping for an early reader or a math genius. I am looking for my kid to be able to navigate adult life in a way that makes him happy. And since I do not have a trust fund to bequeath, my son will have to find happiness in a career. As a career columnist, I am pretty certain that there are things way more important than sleeping through the night: 1.Take risks Many people write to me to say they want to change careers and they are too scared. It doesnt matter how gifted these people are: they are stuck because they cant take risks. Parents are not natural teachers of risk because a parent is all about creating a stable home and keeping the kid from danger. (We have a joke in my family that if my mom is giving someone advice, it must be to do whatever has less risk.) But if a kid is scared to take risks the kid will get into ruts. The kid will not see possibilities. Adults who take risks understand that failing is okay. Kids need to get practice failing. 2. Be passionate Many adults cannot figure out what to do with themselves. They have never learned to look inside themselves. They have never developed their own, internal gauges. If you want your kid to figure out what career to go to when shes twenty-five, help her learn to figure out what shes passionate about when shes much younger. School does not teach passion. In school, a teacher tells kids what to investigate. Whether the kid is a genius or just an average student, school is not teaching him to follow his own passions. (In fact, you could argue that at the end of eighteen years of school, the kid with straight As had less time than the average student to figure out her own passions; those perfect students are too busy learning what they are supposed to learn.) There will come a point for your kid when his world is not made of Scantron tests but of wide-open, connected fields for the kids dreams. The kid needs a working, internal compass to move in this world. 3. Work hard to attain goals Gifted kids dont need to work hard to get As. Pray that you have a normal kid so that schoolwork can be a lesson on working hard. For kids who can do things easily, teach a kid to work hard at something else. Remember, though, that hard work is not an end in itself. I know too many people who worked hard in school, went on to Ivy League, and now have no idea what to do with themselves. Hard work only matters in the context of passion and risk taking. Otherwise, you can only work hard at someone elses dreams. So lets all raise dreamers, adventurers and leaders. And dont bug me when I tell you my son never shuts his eyes, because sleep isnt the only place for dreams.